Asylum Migration to the European Union : Patterns of Origin and Destination

Since the 1980s, asylum policy has become an issue in political debates all over Europe. The governments of most European countries have been confronted with a rising number of individual asylum seekers from a large number of countries. The governments and politicians in these European countries wonder whether their countries may be too attractive for asylum seekers. All countries have the fear of taking in too large a share of the asylum seekers when compared to neighbouring countries. All countries have tried to limit the number of asylum applications by tightening asylum policy, introducing visa requirements and border checks, and creating presumably less favourable conditions for the reception of asylum seekers. The fact that the European Commission supported this research project indicates a growing communal concern for the harmonisation of asylum policy and a fair distribution of the burden among the European countries. With these considerations in mind, we examined the factors determining the destination for possible asylum